


O Captain, My Captain.

by Palus_Hiemalis



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Speculation, pure fluff and nonsense, sweet family bro time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palus_Hiemalis/pseuds/Palus_Hiemalis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl teaches Steven how to write in Gem-script, but finds it tough at first before attempting herself for the first time in thousands of years, they go together to show his hard work to Captain Centipeetle...</p><p>Fluff and nonsense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	O Captain, My Captain.

**Author's Note:**

> (Nothing influenced this really aside from the cute idea that Steven would actually try and write something for the Centipeetles, but it ended up focusing a lot on Pearl. I wrote this at 3am, that's probably why it is so unfocused. Regardless, Enjoy.)

"Like this?"  
"Almost, you're a degree out Steven. Otherwise, yes, this sentence is entirely correct."  
Steven's eyes were fixed to the page and he beamed at the paper as he hunched over the table. Pearl had tucked herself up on the sofa, surveying the many scraps of paper and scattered pens on the table where he worked. He usually didn't focus well for long periods of time, but as he worked on Gem script in the last few days, he became quiet as he measured out angles and trajectories of lines. But a smile remained on his face, even as he stuck his tongue when measuring the length of strokes; it was so pleasant to see him so determined, she didn't even mind viewing his weird pink tongue. It was strange but good, as in it juxtaposed the normal, making it novel and therefore charming.  
Steven was poised with a protractor over the back of an old envelope, "One more time..." He murmured to himself.  
Across the white paper, over a faded postal stamp, Pearl read a competent "H-E-L-L-O."  
Steven practically flung the paper into her face to examine, she took it and held it up, "H-E-L-L-O. Well done Steven, admirable work!"  
Steven bounced in place, "Alright!"  
"I think you're ready to move onto some more words now!" Steven flopped himself down and clunked his head into the table, he groaned a little and Pearl frowned at him, he was worn out. "Why don't we take a rest for the day, Steven? We can work on more words tomorrow, if you like."  
Pearl had to admit to feeling the endeavour was futile in itself, but many of the things Steven enjoyed seemed futile to Pearl and they were usually quintessentially human activities. Such as driving yourself to fatigue over a language one couldn't employ on Earth and was beyond the linguistic framing of humans to the point that comprehension of the base subject would take years, let alone capability of use.  
"That sounds like a good idea, for now." Steven wandered over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of chilled water from the refrigerator, "I just... I want to do this Pearl."  
"Steven," Pearl said, standing up and leaning slightly on the counter, as was the proper form when utilising a kitchen counter as she had observed from human postures, "You have plenty of time to learn Gem-script, and, er, Centipeetle seems very happy where is currently, there is no hurry."  
Steven took a sip and hopped on a stool, he was becoming more and more quiet in these last few months, or at the very least, took more time in being silent. Amethyst and Garnet were secluded to their rooms, it was a bright Sunday afternoon, a warm breeze sailed through the front room; Steven was still staring into his glass.  
"I guess, I wanna do it right away, I wanna make sure that she knows I care about her still, besides, it might help her recover more quickly if we keep in contact." He sighed.  
Pearl titled her head slightly and spoke, "Doesn't she understand english? I don't understand why this conversation has to be in Gem-script."  
Steven bunched up his cheeks and wrinkled his brow in thought, "... It makes it special! Its like when Amethyst turned into that rock formation you saw off of geode island so that you could sketch it without having to use the portal, or when Garnet went around that planetarium with you and me, even though she didn't look at any of the pictures. You know?"  
Pearl recalled Amethyst getting several distinct feature of that sea stack incorrect, and Garnet had strolled through the planetarium without any comment to the pieces on display or any word about her own commentary of the science at work.  
Steven gave pearl a small hug before ambling up to his room to play on his console, later he decided to walk the beach as he chatted with Connie on the phone. Pearl spent the rest of the day cleaning, before she ran out of things to clean. She stood out on the porch, and ran out of things to count or catch her eye. Going back to the table she neatened some of the papers, and started to place them in order of Steven's earliest attempts to his latest triumph.  
Pearl took her own pen and laid it flat across her palms, it wasn't nearly fine enough for her tastes, but it fit nicely in her hand. She took a piece of paper that was spare, an old sketch book to lean on and the pen and placed them all in her lap.  
The sun was setting. Pearl uncapped the pen and placed it to the page before writing:

"Hello." She paused, and watched the ink dry again before continuing. "Pearl. Facet. Warp pad. Galaxy warp. Inter-planetary system. The-unending-fathomless-comprehension-of-open-space-in-its-entirety."

Her finger stopped abruptly. She hadn't written anything in a long time, her mind had jumped for her through the movement of her hand. That last word was one whole Gem word, unique to the Gems, she had never thought of an earth equivalent. She wondered if this counted as poetry, it had a semblance flow and narrative, perhaps, yet no rhythm that could be translated. She put the thought away for another time. The small, sharp shapes looked ancient in ink; as humans might view the astro-labe to GPS app, Pearl felt instead the weight of distance between her, the words and their usefulness. She hadn't even ever used a pen to write Gem-script, she'd been teaching Steven about measurements and degrees before anything. She took the pen again, and squinted at her work before writing once more:

"Pearl. Garnet. Amethyst. Rose Quartz. Peridot. Lapis Lazuli."  
She paused and looked at her first sentence again, thinking about the word poetry in all its futility. She crossed out the word facet, and wrote instead:  
"Earth."  
Earth didn't have a proper translation to Gem-script, the word was long and winding, it didn't look readable or real when dissected. But it was, you could sound it out and decipher it as its own unique constellation of sounds and feelings. Pearl thumbed the paper in her hand and squeezed the pen, before writing it again, feeling oddly defiant.  
"Earth. Steven. Earth. Rose Quartz. Earth."

\-----------------

"Peeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrlllll!"  
Pearl stepped into the the living room from the porch, "What is it Steven? Are you ready to learn more about Gem-script?"  
Steven was holding one of the sheets she had written on last night. His eyes had practically ballooned at the small, thin neat script that laced the page.  
"Did you do this?!" He jumped and yelped, waving the sheet near her face, "Its so cool! It looks so space-y!!"  
Pearl nodded, "Last night, I took it upon myself to try myself to have a try at writing with one of the pens..." Pearl wished for a brief moment that Gem had the equivalent of adding a "Y" sound to the end of a noun to make it an adjective, it was so useful, if not uncomfortable in everyday use.  
"What does it say?! What does it say?!" Steven scurried to the couch and buzzed in place as Pearl walked over.  
Pearl translated, stopping to point out lessons in grammar and punctuation, there was no way to speak the words but Steven could see them well enough. He ran his little, round fingers over the dried ink and took to copying them out.  
First he copied Steven over and over, until he could do it without referencing back. The afternoon had rolled around, and Garnet had drifted into the room to watch him at work, she ruffled his hair and she stared at the words that reflected in her visor and she took a seat next to Pearl to watch him fervantly copy out more words. She hadn't realised quite how long she'd been observing Steven, she rolled her shoulders and sat up straight.  
Next he found some Crying Breakfast Friend scented pens, their thick gel ink obscured the words slightly but Pearl did note how they certainly did smell like the most obtuse components of apple, waffle, butter, pear and milk.  
He copied out the names, sometimes filling a page with a name before hurrying off to gift each gem.  
Garnet folded it up and stated that she would put it in the fridge for now, she asked Amethyst if there was a spare photo frame in her room they could use to put Steven's hard work within. Amethyst was distracted and fistbumped Steven, it was unclear whether she really understood what was written on the paper, but it would stay in her bed for now. Garnet confiscated it to protect it before a more suitable home was found.  
Lapis stared through the paper, she narrowed her eyes at the joints and overlapping lines, before accepting it silently and thanking Steven and saying that it had a strong smell. Peridot took the chance to document the image to her twitter account, posting it on its own before taking a selfie with it, the paper slightly out of focus and her face half out of frame.  
Pearl took her own paper and put it on the fridge, where it was near enough to be a daily reminder, but something that could hit her hard alone in her room. The fridge seemed far enough away.

\-----------------

Stone scraped on stone and rang out percussive echoes as the great door opened. The multiple Centipeetles rattled at the light cast on their faces; together they lay in a huge pile, their wispy manes merged together into a huge nest of white fluff. Steven walked in cautiously before getting a gargled purr of welcome from all three creatures.  
"Hiya guys! I wanted to show you something, Pearl," Steven held her hand and pulled her forward, she had been unconsciously stuck at the entrance, "Helped me make this to show you guys..."  
The largest Centipeetle, presumably the captain, shook and pattered forward, rearing slightly as Steven pulled out the pieces of paper one by one and laid them on the ground. There were screeches and cries of delight, Pearl heard strained hisses and choked words, 'Ste-ven!' 'Pearrrl!' 'Cap-tain!!!'  
The three creatures drooled heavily from their eyes and rubbed their bodies together affectionately before bumping their heads against Steven and Pearl who stayed stock still through the nudges.  
The largest Centipeetle hovered over a sheet that read "S-O-R-R-Y" and practically pushed Steven over, she fell quiet and dug into Steven. Steven stroked her head and smiled, not quite understanding but trying his best. Steven made light chatter and produced chaaaps from out his backpack as Pearl wandered about the empty cavernous room. She inspected the high ledge the Centipeetles gathered on and let her eyes trail across the vines and moss that caked the abandoned ship walls.  
"I'm glad you understood!!" Steven's laugh echoed through the chamber.  
Pearl touched the green walls, parts were wet and green with algae, it smelt damp and light did not filter from the outside well; there were no flowers here. She heard the crackling calls of the Centipeetles jump off the walls and mingled with each other. Looking over her shoulder she saw one of the smaller Centipeetles holding up a paper for the other in her jaws;  
"E-A-R-T-H."


End file.
